The place of the voluntary worker in civic life and social work

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The Place of

The Voluntary Worker

IN

Civic Life and Social Work

By J. H. HEIGHTON,

Hon. M.A. (Oxon.).

PRICE THREEPENCE

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON,

KENT & CO. LTD., 4, STATIONERS'

HALL COURT : : LONDON, E.G.

1918

THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY
WORKER

The Place of

The Voluntary Worker

IN

Civic Life and Social Work

By J. H. HEIGHTON,

Hon. M.A. (Oxon.).

SIMP KIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON,

KENT & CO. LTD., 4, STATIONERS'

HALL COURT : : LONDON, E.G.

1918

Jxc
<:

PREFACE.

THE pages following contain the substance of
a lecture delivered at Oxford during the
Summer Meeting arranged by the University
Extension Delegacy in 1917. It was one of a
course of ten lectures on " Educational and Social
Reconstruction." Though intended primarily for
an audience of students, the lecture dealt with
a subject which has lately become of increasing
importance to the nation as a whole, and therefore
may be of further service in printed form. The
case for the voluntary worker is discussed impar-
tially, and reasoned proposals are put forward for
increasing the efficiency and possibly extending
the sphere' of that form of social effort. The
author hopes that what he has written will
encourage all those who, through the various
organisations already established, are giving them-
selves in the service of their fellows ; but he also
desires to enlist the sympathy of many who have
hitherto held aloof from all forms of voluntary
social work. This aloofness on the part of some
people may have arisen from lack of knowledge
of what was being attempted, thus making them
sceptical, or distrustful, of the aims of the work,
or of the methods employed. If the following
pages help in any way to remove this impression
and thereby call up greater forces to meet the
new and increased needs of the community, the
writer will be more than satisfied.

SUMMARY.

The War as an incentive to voluntary work —
A growing movement before the War — The
development of voluntary work partly due to an
increased feeling of individual responsibility and
partly to increased demands and opportunities
arising out of national or local needs — Advantages
and drawbacks of voluntary work — The relation
of the voluntary worker to (i) National and (2)
Local Government — Methods of making the
voluntary worker efficient — To what extent, in
normal circumstances, can the voluntary worker
be trained ? — Degrees of training defined — The
increasing importance of training now and in the
future — -Its economic aspect — The place of the
fully-trained voluntary worker — The sphere of the
untrained or partly-trained worker — The difference
between being " on a committee " and working-
Some of the openings for the various types of
voluntary workers — A national survey and national
co-ordination — The possibility of organising volun-
tary work throughout the country — Danger of too
much organisation — Should the ideal for every
member of the State be to have two occupations,
viz., (i) professional or paid work and (2) voluntary
or unpaid ? — The extent to which this is the case
at present — Influence of education and educational
ideals — The place of social work and voluntary
effort in the State.

THE PLACE OF

THE VOLUNTARY WORKER IN
CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK.

VOLUNTARY work is so interwoven into
the organisation of Society that it is difficult
to realise its magnitude, and still more difficult
to imagine the community without it. In every
function of the State the voluntary worker makes
his appearance. Even in that highest develop-
ment of organisation which we call Government,
from its central power — where the Paymaster-
General, of all people, is unpaid — to the smallest
detail of local administration, the "volunteer" does
his work. Moreover, we accept it all as the most
natural thing in public life. We never question
it. It is so much a part of our conception of the
management and conduct of affairs that we take it
for granted. Whenever anything so vast and so
important is taken for granted in public life, we
may be sure that it is an element in the vital
growth of the nation — that it belongs, as we say,
to the genius of the people ; and this aptitude for
voluntary work undoubtedly forms part of the
character and power of the British race. It
develops on a free soil, amongst free institutions,
the world over, but it seems to me there is some-
thing peculiarly characteristic of the British race
and of those nations which, at least in part, have
derived from us, in this aptitude for, and success

8 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

in, voluntary work. Other nations may attain
their ends in other ways, and most worthily and
successfully attain them, but this nation and race
will best achieve its purpose and work out its
destiny by allowing for the free play of voluntary
effort.

The Stimulus
of the War.

The War came upon us with great suddenness,
but it was hardly declared before we saw a great
uprising on all sides of voluntary activity. It is
true that that activity was not invariably wise in
its objects, and some energy and money were
wasted, but in the main it has been a wonderful
development. It quickly seized the positions where
it was most needed, and on nearly every side has
achieved a remarkable success. We do not know
what may be the ultimate verdict upon particular
portions of the work, nor to what extent it may
be thought desirable for the State to take over
some of this activity and make it part of the per-
manent and official work of Government, but there
has been very little well-founded criticism or fault-
finding in connection with the great voluntary
War organisations. One has only to mention the
work of the Y.M.C.A., the various Red Cross
Units, the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Associa-
tion, the Local Representative Committees, the
War Savings Associations, and many others, to
recognise this. Never in the history of the nation,
and probably in the history of the world, has there
been such an enormous manifestation of voluntary
devotion to social service.

I suppose my experience is mostly amongst a
class of people who would be likely to volunteer

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK 9

readily for such work, but it is difficult to find a
household without its voluntary worker, and, cer-
tainly, persons following their ordinary avocations
who are not engaged in some form of voluntary
work, seem to think it necessary to explain their
absence from such activity. Now what does this
mean ? It means that to be engaged in some
voluntary work has become an ideal with a very
large section of the community. This almost
universal attitude is a new feature, both in its
breadth and in its intensity. The question is
asked, " Will it remain after the War?" My,
own impression is that, to a large extent, it has
come to stay. Men and women who have found
how great the needs of the world are and 'have
found a new interest in life in ministering to those
needs, will not readily relapse into that state of
existence which finds its zest in, and is wholly
satisfied with, the pre-occupation of business or
the excitement of sport. Be that as it may, the
War has proved a great incentive to voluntary
work.

Voluntary Effort
before the War.

But it is advisable to guard against the suppo-
sition that the growth of such activities is entirely
due to the War. Long before the War there was

o

a steadily increasing number of men and women
who were giving their time and abilities to forward
the public welfare, and this was particularly notice-
able in social work. The rise of the Guild of Help
movement, for instance, is evidence of this. In
every town where a guild was started a ready
response was given to the appeal for helpers (even
if some of them fell away afterwards), and

ic THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

hundreds and hundreds of people undertook some
form of social work whose previous efforts in that
direction did not extend much beyond giving a
penny to a beggar. The need for workers grew
and grew, and whatever society or public body
made the appeal, some response was forthcoming.
There were not enough workers to go round, but
the number was a steadily increasing one. There
was an awakening of what has been called the
"social conscience," and when a good case was
made out, larger and larger numbers came forward
with their offer of personal service, Therefore,
this vivifying of voluntary effort was not entirely
due to the War — it was a marked feature before
August, 1914 — but what one hopes is that the
War will give a tremendous impetus to what was
there before. Whether the effect of the War will
be so great as to draw out workers to supply all
needs or only enough to cope with special
after-war conditions, remains to be seen, but we
shall never again find ourselves crying unheeded
in a crowd of indifferent people, for this impulse
to voluntary effort is not entirely due to a passing
phase.

Voluntary work is natural to us as a race — it
suits our " make-up "; for many years we have
been feeling an increasing individual responsibility
— a conscience towards others which stirred within
us ; and, lastly, the demands arising nationally
.and locally are more and more insistent. If this
nation has a great purpose in the world in the
years to come, an important place to fill in the
comity of nations — and he is hardly an Englishman
who does not hope for it — then its accomplishment
will have to be to a large extent by that free effort
which neither seeks for reward nor expects praise,
but finds its satisfaction in the deed done,

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK n

Characteristics of
Voluntary Workers.

The main factor in voluntary work, more than
in most other work, is the worker ; and it may
help us a little if we inquire into the merits and
demerits, qualities and disabilities of voluntary
workers as a class. Let us look at the debit side
first. The voluntary worker is usually untrained,
and rarely gets any training except that which
experience gives him. Now whilst experience is
a very good teacher if you suffer from your own
blunders, it often happens in social work that it is
the other fellow who suffers. You administer a
drug and find that it is fatal, which is a, very
successful experiment, but in the meantime the
patient is dead. In the same way the untrained
social worker may pursue a course which ends in
failure, and the "case" goes from bad to worse.
But does the inexperienced worker gain from that
experience? Not he! He blames the "case";
he stalks forth in righteous indignation, or, what is
worse, smug self-satisfaction, and proclaims aloud
that it is no use trying to help these thriftless poor
people. I do not say that training will always
eradicate this tendency, but it will lessen the pos-
sibility of mistake. Later I propose to consider
the question of training, but for the present we
must put down want of training as one of the
drawbacks.

Sense of
Responsibility.

I believe the complaint most frequently made
by the permanent official is that the voluntary
worker is unreliable. This does not mean that
the voluntary worker is untruthful, but that he is

12 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

not always there when he is wanted, and that he
is not always thorough. I am afraid there is a
good deal of truth in this complaint, especially in
regard to what is called "case work"* and to the
part-time worker. It arises naturally out of the
circumstances. The " After-care" Worker, or the
Guild Helper, or the friendly visitor of the C.O.S.
is given charge of a case and asked to do a par-
ticular piece of work, but just at the time some
private business or domestic demand arises and
the worker puts off, not his own affairs, but those
of the "case." Sometimes the worker is very
much to blame, sometimes not, but naturally the
official is annoyed, and says, " If you want anything
done, do it yourself, or have somebody you can
'sack' if they don't do it." This applies more to
the part-time worker than to those fortunate people
who are able to give the main part of their day
to the work in hand. There is another tendency
which is too frequent in voluntary work — though
I am glad to say there are many workers who
resist it — and that fs to resign when anything
occurs which they do not like, or when their
attention is called to mistakes or omissions.
I think the War has rather improved this : we
stick to our jobs better than we did.

Lack of
System.

Lastly we come to a more subtle difficulty.
Whenever work is to be carried on permanently
and systematically it is necessary to have organi-
sation, and for it to be guided by a body of control,

* By "case work" is meant the work being done, or attempted, in con-
nection with an individual or family requiring help or treatment.

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK 13

which decides upon policy and method and is
responsible in a general way. Usually this con-
trolling body is a committee, and from time to
time it enunciates principles, lays down rules, and
decides questions at issue. Now, some of those
who are working in the organisation do not always
agree with the decisions of the committee. It
happens quite often that the officers do not — for,
strange as it may seem to some committees, even
paid officials have views about things — but the
honourable official will always loyally carry out
the decision of the committee, however much he
may disagree with it ; whereas sometimes the
voluntary worker will exercise what he calls dis-
cretion. Evasion of rules, and in some cases flat
disregard of the body of control, occasionally mars
voluntary work. The official knows that there
must be a general policy, that he has no right to
upset it, and that one of his first duties is to be
loyal to his committee. The voluntary worker
must learn this also, and, may I interject, he will
be more likely to be loyal if he is a member of
the governing body, or is properly represented
upon it.

Motive in
Voluntary Work.

Turning now to the credit side of the account,
it is important to consider the question of motive,
because out of it springs most of that which is
good and strong in voluntary work. It is possible
that with some workers the motive may be a mixed
one, but in the great majority of cases there is
singleness of purpose, viz., to benefit in some way
those who need help, and to give personal service
for the well-being of the community. When our

i4 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

service is given with a desire for power
or influence, the practice of .some doctrin-
aire idea, or to serve some end other than
that directly undertaken, we are placing the
ostensible purpose in a secondary position, which
is not fair to the work, but behind the pure
motive lies an enormous power which re-
moves obstacles and makes seeming impos-
sibilities the stepping-stones to success. There
is no work, whether it be paid or unpaid, so well
done as that which is done for love, Let me
guard, however, against giving the impression
that I think the voluntary worker has a monopoly
of the inestimable qualities which arise from this
great motive, the desire to give oneself in the
service of one's fellows. Many of those who
cannot be called voluntary workers share this
motive to the full, but in the voluntary worker
we have a right to assume — and we shall usually
be justified — that this motive is there, and it is
out of this that we shall find the finest results
develop. Let me here say a word to those who
are organisers and directors of voluntary effort,
and I say it to myself : always assume the highest
motives in the worker ; let our work be so planned,
and even its details so shaped, as to call forth that
which springs from high motives ; thus we shall
be less frequently disappointed, and we shall
obtain the best results. So I say that most of
that which is best in voluntary work arises from
this motive : without it the volunteer is very likely
to be a failure, or his work will be perfunctory »
which is ruin to voluntaryism.

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK 15

Wide Outlook
and Initiative.

One of the advantages of the voluntary worker
is his freshness and initiative. He is frequently
occupied, as the main business of his life, in some-
thing quite different from that in which he engages
as a volunteer. It is curious how often we find
that an organisation which has for its aim some
form of social betterment has become narrow —
one had almost said pettifogging. It is lamentable
to see some committee wrangling about a detail of
management, or a question of personal pique, or
the spending of a few half-crowns. How often
one's soul has been tried and one's time wasted
by the almost interminable discussion of some
point which a sensible man in his own business
would have dismissed in two minutes ! Into this
narrowness comes a business man who is accus-
tomed to handle large affairs, or a professional
man whose mind has dealt with great issues, and
the pettiness disappears in the atmosphere of a
larger world. We cannot be always changing our
officials, and would not if we could, but we can
bring new people on to the committee and into
the work. The time comes in most organisations
when a revolution is necessary : a new start ; fresh
fuel for the driving power. From the very nature
of the case we shall not usually get our revolution
from the permanent official. We shall more fre-
quently get it from some mind coming fresh to
the problem. In most societies that fresh mind
will be that of a voluntary worker. On what is
called "case work" I am a strong advocate of
voluntary work, and one reason is this freshness
of outlook. Some needy family struggling with
adversity is swamped, amongst other troubles, in

1 6 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

the sordid pettiness which dogs the lives of the
poor. This also is a place where we want the
fresh mind coming in, and we are more likely to
get it in a voluntary worker than in an official.
One does not usually look for freshness of mind
in a relieving officer, good officials as some of
them are. The official mind becomes too familiar-
ised with the environment ; frequent repetition
tends to deaden the appeal. Someone has said
that the reason prisoners are tried by a jury is
partly because the twelve men are not accustomed
to the court and will not treat the case as a matter
of routine — precisely because to the jury the
prisoner is not a "case," but is a human being.
In most of our social work there is a tendency for
" case work " to increase ; i.e., we are being called
upon more and more frequently to deal with cases
of distress, or special need, such as the after-care
of consumptives, by means of visits to the home of
the patient or "case," and to cope with the whole
circumstances arising in the family, not only from
the official or legal side and the particular need of
the moment, but with a view to permanent and
general improvement. In all such work let inves-
tigation be made by a trained official if necessary,
but then let the case be handed over to a voluntary-
helper if after-care is needed ; and generally it is
needed.

It is obvious that, with a good body of voluntary
workers, much more work can be accomplished,
and at less cost, than if paid officials were solely
employed. Much good work is done, especially
in small centres of population, which would have
to be left undone if it were not for voluntary work,
and on the whole it is well and faithfully performed.
On the score of initiative there is much that could

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK 17

be said. I think if we look carefully into the
matter we shall find that over and over again
great schemes which ultimately have been taken
over by the State, or the local authority, have had
their inception and have proved their worth in a
voluntary organisation. I believe if we are wise
we shall always leave a large space for that kind
of initiative. A voluntary organisation can make
experiments which the State cannot and will not
make. The official must be cautious. In his
early days he may have been otherwise, and if he
were he probably burnt his fingers. The official
mind tends to conservatism ; the voluntary mind
to enlargement.

Relation of Voluntary
Workers to the State.

Having considered what we may expect to find
in the voluntary worker by way of advantage and
disadvantage, we may now consider his relation,
firstly, to national and, secondly, to local govern-
ment. It is true that the two spheres run into
each other, and local administration becomes in
regard to internal affairs more and more important.
The relation of national to local administration is
a most interesting subject, and at the present time
requires to be very carefully thought out. As a
nation we are continually making experiments in
devolution, and progress at present appears to be
on the line of exercising the general direction of
the State through the channels of financial control.
Wherever financial assistance is afforded from the
Exchequer, there is a certain amount of central
control, and this is a sound principle which on the
whole works well. It seems to me that ''grants
in aid " is a very safe and wise practice. By this

i8 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

.system the organisation and practical carrying out
of the work is left to the localities, with a certain
amount of freedom. Grants in aid, graduated
partly according to needs and partly in proportion
to results, seem to have much in their favour.
They enable the State to exercise a general control
without too much interference with detail. The
point for adjustment is, to what extent the central
authority should exercise control, and the method
of doing this.

Understanding, then, the nature of the problem
and the system of state control which tends to
prevail, we shall see, from the nature of the case,
that the place of the voluntary worker in the
national or central body will be very limited, whilst
he will have larger opportunities in local adminis-
tration. The central authority must be to a large
extent in the hands of a body of experts — men
and women who are specially qualified by training
and ability for the work, and give most of their
time and their principal energies to it. We
cannot get this from the voluntary worker
as ordinarily understood. Moreover, there must
devolve upon those at the centre a weight of
responsibility .and a liability to strict accountable-
ness which the voluntary worker will not and
should not carry. However amateurish in their
statesmanship our politicians may be, when they
become secretaries of state we pay them a big
salary and hold them accountable most strictly,
and the principle is thoroughly sound — they have
passed out of the natural sphere of voluntary
workers. In local administration the executive
officers of a corporation are highly trained and
fairly well paid experts. They are at the centre.
In local administration we have a body of volun-

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK 19

tary workers who carry considerable responsibility
and give a great deal of time, though unpaid, viz.,
the chairmen of committees. It is a British insti-
tution— very British ! How long it will last if the
amount of work done locally continues to increase
at the present rate I do not know. I sometimes
think there will be so many committees of a town
council that every member of the council will be
chairman of at least one committee and will have
to give the greater part of his time to the work.
However, this is a digression. When we begin
to travel out from the centre to the detailed work
of the committees we find the opportunity of the
volunteer increases, but this is to a large extent a
recent development. There used to be a very
clear line of demarcation. Except as an elected
representative, the opportunities for the voluntary
worker were very rare. Having got his particular
candidate elected, or defeated, as the case may
be, he was severely put in his place outside the
1 pale until the next election. And there was a
reason for this. The work undertaken was almost
entirely of a nature which could only, or could
best, be carried out by experts, whether they were
town clerks or navvies, but with the enlargement
of the sphere of local administration this has to
some extent been altered. The voluntary worker
may now be a school manager ; he may engage in
the " after-care " of consumptives, of the mentally
deficient, of the feeble minded ; he may advise
children who are about to leave or have left school ;
he may visit " boarded-out " children, engage in
infant welfare and the feeding of school children ;
also he may give in free libraries what are called
" talks," or lectures ; and, not least, he may be a
special constable. All these activities are part of

20 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

the work of local administrative bodies, and I do
not profess to have given an exhaustive list. It
may be noticed that this work is on the circum-
ference rather than at the centre, and I think I
have now made the way clear to lay down a prin-
ciple, viz,, that the scope for voluntary effort will
be at the minimum at the centre and the maximum
at the circumference of administrative work.

Social and
Civic Activity.

A great deal of this scope for voluntary effort
in civic work is of recent origin. The reasons for
this are as follows : — Much of the work has been,
or is, experimental and tentative ; ratepayers'
representatives were not inclined to embark on
new and unfamiliar schemes involving expenditure ;
the creating of salaried posts and an "army of
officials." Thus way was opened for the cheaper
method of voluntaryism. But this was not all.
Much of the detailed work was peculiarly adapted
to the special qualifications of the voluntary worker.
The after-care of consumptives, for instance, re-
quires tactful persuasion and a certain intimate
relationship, as well as patient overcoming of not
very tangible difficulties, if it is to be successful.
I do not say that an official would not do this, but
I think it is better done by a friendly visitor of
the right kind, who does not come in an official
capacity and order things to be done, but enters
into domestic and personal difficulties as a friend
of the family. The work of local administration
is civic or social, but there are degrees of sociable-
ness — if I may use the word in a special sense.
The upkeep of roads and the supply of water are
civic functions, and the care of consumptives is a

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK 21

civic responsibility, but in the latter case there is
a more social or intimate element than in the
former. In the upkeep of roads there appears to
be no scope for the voluntary worker, because on
the whole it is better to employ a professional
navvy on a cash basis ; but when we are repairing
a human being the cash nexus, as Carlyle called
it, does not work so well, and even if such cases
are dealt with by an official, the more he approxi-
mates to a friend in his attitude, the greater the
success. If I may, for the moment, use the word
social to connote a more intimate relationship than
the word civic, I would say that the activities of
the municipality on the social side tend to increase,
and in so doing the municipality has the direct
encouragement of the national Government The
War, also, has given an impetus in this direction.
The establishment of local representative com-
mittees, and the association with them of an
enormous number of voluntary workers, was a
step of great importance, and one which will
almost certainly have far-reaching and lasting
effects ; and much the same may be said of war
pensions and disabled soldiers' committees. The
day of the voluntary worker in civic life seems
not only to have dawned, but to have become a
permanent institution.

Training of
Voluntary Workers.

If the sphere of the voluntary worker in local
administration is opening out to the extent which
I have just indicated — and I think I have not
exaggerated it — we may well ask the question :
Is the voluntary worker qualified to enter into so
large and so important a field ? The amount of

22 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

knowledge which is actually essential is not great,
provided there is willingness and keenness. The
desire to help is the most important factor, but
qualification is also important, and the sphere will
not increase, as at present it promises to do, if the
workers are found not to be equal to the task.
Voluntary work is on its trial as it never was
before, and its place will have to be determined
by the amount of ability which is found to exist.
Some officials and committees are very sceptical
about voluntary work, and this applies to many
purely voluntary societies as well as to statutory
bodies. One knows of many philanthropic societies
in which all the work, except committee manage-
ment, is done by paid officers, and voluntary
assistance is distinctly discouraged. Wherever
this is the case, voluntary work is very likely to
be a failure. But even where it is not discouraged
we often find that very little effort is made to use
it to the best advantage, A voluntary worker,
like every other worker, requires instruction in
the work which he has to do, and the more
important and responsible the work, the more
instruction will be required. I am quite sure
that much of the failure in voluntary work, where
that occurs — and I am not suggesting that it is a
frequent occurrence — is due to w:ant of proper
initiation, instruction, and oversight in the early
stages.

Methods of
Training.

Let us take for illustration "case work/' which,
I am convinced, is one of the most fruitful fields
for voluntary effort. It is not enough to give the
new visitor a few details about the case, and then

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK 23

send him off to visit and make a report. He
should go more than once with an experienced
worker of proved efficiency, and see precisely
what takes place. His first few reports should be
carefully and tactfully gone into with him by the
official, or whoever is responsible for the district,
and instead of resenting such oversight, he will
generally welcome and appreciate the assistance.
This refers to the practical side of the work, but
something more is required if intelligent work is
to be obtained. It is not enough to tell a worker
to do this or to do that ; the reasons must be
explained to him. The official, whether he be
paid or unpaid, must not regard himself as a drill
sergeant, but rather as a general of division
explaining to his immediate subordinates the plan
of campaign. To drop metaphor, there must be
a real understanding of the aim and purpose of
the work undertaken. In all voluntary work,
whether it be connected with statutory bodies or
with purely voluntary societies, a place should be
found for the two kinds of instruction, the practi-
cal and the theoretical. The first will be accom-
plished, as I have very briefly indicated, by what
may be called ''field instruction" — actually seeing
a piece of work well done ; and the second may
be attempted in more ways than one. Usually
there will be one or more books upon the subject
which, in the first flush of enthusiasm, the worker
may be induced to read. In this connection let
me mention the admirable and concise little hand-
book recently issued by the Joint Committee on
Social Service, which should be placed in the
hands of every social worker, especially those
doing case work. Another method may be by
talks or lectures to groups of workers. The

24 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

groups should be not too large, so that there may
be questions and answers and a free interchange
of views and statement of difficulties ; and these
talks should be by persons who are themselves
actually engaged in the work, or have had wide
experience of such work. Lastly, an attempt
should be made to link up practical work with
that broader view and deeper knowledge which
seeks to discover principles and to understand the
great issues of human progress. Our work will
never be at its highest if it is solely concerned
with the petty affairs of our own little society or
piece of work. Every worker should feel and
know that the details of his work, the drudgery
he undertakes, is one of the steps by which man-
kind slowly rises to heights but dimly seen.
But we must show him the heights. We must
trace for him the long, slow progress by which we
have attained and the place which by steadfastness
of purpose and faithfulness in small things we may
ultimately fill. This broader view will usually be
most conveniently obtained by lectures, and it is
a suitable field for the extra-mural work of the
Universities. Short courses of lectures should be
given at frequent intervals on social work- and
economics, in all centres of population, under the
direct encouragement and with the financial sup-
port of the local administrative body.

Degrees of
Training.

In these three forms of instruction I have set
out the minimum amount of instruction and train-
ing for the efficient voluntary worker who is to do
his work intelligently ; but there are degrees of
training. Most voluntary workers will take their

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK 25

work and their training side by side, very much
in the way I have just suggested, and during the
War, when there is such a great demand for
service of all kinds, it is as much as we can
expect, and possibly as much as we ought to try
for, but in normal times much more may be and
has been attempted. There are some workers,
however, who desire something more, and it is
desirable that a body of workers should be as
thoroughly equipped as it is possible to make
them, and for these the Universities have provided
courses of instruction and training which usually
cover a period of twelve months or more. Many
of those who have trained in this way have done
so with the object of taking salaried posts, but a
fair proportion have been voluntary workers who
wished to equip themselves with great thorough-
ness for social work. Those who were thus trained
must have found large scope for their abilities. It
is probable that we shall see an increasing number
of these fully-trained workers. Their place will
usually be at the centre of an organisation, and
they will be largely concerned with direction ;
they will also be very useful as instructors. I
think also they will serve as officials and organisers
in places where some form of social work is under-
taken for the first time and funds are not forth-
coming for a paid official ; or in the organisation
of a movement which is in the experimental stage,
before it has obtained general approval or public
recognition. It is important that a large place
should remain open for voluntary and experimental
effort, and it is here that the fully-trained voluntary
worker, whether in social or other work, will find
the most important opening for his ability — always
provided he retains his original impulse and has

26 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

not become narrowed by preconceived ideas and
stereotyped methods acquired in his course of
training. I think there is just a chance of being
over-trained in social work. We want in such
work, as much as anywhere, a freshness of outlook
and a breadth of sympathy : without these we
shall not get far in social or in educational work,
We must all of us have met the social worker of
experience who has become hard and generally
unsympathetic, full of rules and principles : we
can almost hear the clanking of the machine as
each case is "put through" and labelled. How
dismal ! If that is what we mean by social work,
let us drop it and try something else, for we have
missed our way. I think most training centres
are aware of this danger and try to guard against
it, but it is a snare for voluntary workers as well
as for the more professional officials. With the
great increase in the socialisation of life, and par-
ticularly in the number of legislative enactments
affecting the structure of Society, it is natural that
there should arise a class of trained workers who
will become professional secretaries and organisers
of such work. I believe in most cases there is a
strong sense of duty and a fine impulse, and that
the idea of salary is secondary, but there is no
reason why they should not be paid, and well
paid, for their work. At present it is a kind of
halfway house between philanthropy and a pro-
fession, but it may as rightly be a profession as is
the practice of medicine. I refer to this matter
because it has become a serious question, and
would have been more so but for the War, viz. : to
what extent fully-trained workers who do not
require a salary should voluntarily undertake work
for which others require payment. I think care

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK 27

will have to be exercised in this respect, but if the
fully-trained voluntary worker who can devote his
whole time to the work keeps in mind the special
kind of work which I have mentioned, and par-
ticularly the experimental work, it seems to me he
will be in his right place.

Committee and
Real Work.

It seems necessary to make some distinction
between being on a committee and doing some
real work. Being on a committee may involve a
great deal of hard thinking, which is the most
difficult work of all ; but, on the other hand, a
great many people flatter themselves that by b'eing
on a committee they are working, when really they
are doing very little. As a rule, committees con-
sist of voluntary workers ; but in many cases,
whilst they are no doubt voluntary, it is somewhat
of a misnomer to call them workers. Committees
are necessary. I know of no other method of
satisfactory control, and I do not believe in a
" committee of one." A dictatorship may be effi-
cient on occasion, but it ultimately leads into a
blind alley and disaster, because the interest has
not been sufficiently widely spread. This is
peculiarly true of all movements depending upon
voluntary effort. If interest is to be maintained,
the committee should be regularly called together,
and the agenda should deal with matters of vital
interest and practical work. But I would go a
step further than this and say that all committees
dealing with social betterment should consist
largely of those who are actually doing the work.
There are some charitable committees which meet
and arrive at decisions, and let the whole of the

28 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

real work — the actual contact with the poor — be
done by paid officials. If anything goes wrong,
the committee blames the officials ; when things
go well, the committee, mostly ''deadheads," takes
the credit. Such committees know nothing of the
joy of fellowship with those who suffer. Their
acquaintance with disappointment is at second
hand, and the achievement of success is not theirs,
but another's. They bid guests to a dinner and
leave servants to preside. Ultimately their work
is atrophied and goes wrong because they never
come into close contact with reality, and know the
poor only as "cases ' in reports. It will not do.
If we are going to reconstruct — if, indeed, we are
to construct at all — it will not be by sitting in
rooms with closed doors and never coming into
close personal contact with the real conditions.
Committees are necessary, and the voluntary
worker will find his right place on such bodies,
but do not let us think that our work begins and
ends there. We must qualify for the position,
and maintain it by taking an active part in work-
ing ; and we must have first-hand knowledge of
the environment in which our constructive efforts
are to operate.

New Developments in
Voluntary Service.

To deal with all the openings which now exist
for the various types of voluntary workers would
take us far beyond the scope of the writer's aim,
but it may be of service to view in outline the
vast fields which lie open to us. The War has
emphasised the need for many kinds of social
work — what might, perhaps, better be described
as "helpfulness"; but, if we think of it, does it

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK 29

not appear that a great deal of the need was
always there, and that what the War has done is
to enormously increase the number of those who
wish to be helpful ? The willing worker has
always found enough to do ; he finds it still ; he
will always find it. We must be very thankful
for this new spirit, and it is for those who are
engaged in constructive work, whether educa-
tional or social, to see that this enthusiasm does
not evaporate or become diverted into useless
channels.

There is great need at the present time for
co-ordination of social service. Some districts
possess societies and organisations which cover,
in one way or another, the needs of the locality,
but without any co-ordination of effort. The
result is not only overlapping, which can be
largely prevented by mutual registration of the
assistance given, but there is also duplication of
organisation, and it may be a mere accident
whether a case is dealt with by one society or by
another. It may happen that two societies with
slightly different methods have practically the
same object, whilst a different need which calls
urgently for attention is not met because no
society in the district includes this particular piece
of work in its purview. Whilst some districts
may be well provided for, others are lamentably
deficient in organisations for meeting the ever-
present demands, or are served by very inefficient
societies with archaic ideas. A re-organisation
of social work is urgently required throughout
the whole of England. We do not know what
may be in front of us after the War, or even
during the War, and it is more than time we got
our house in order.

30 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

Survey of
Social Work.

The first step in re-organisation should be
a complete survey, nationally and locally,
of all work which is being undertaken, and
of all openings for every kind of personal
service. This survey might be undertaken volun-
tarily or by the State. If voluntarily, the new
Joint Committee on Social Service would be the
most likely body to undertake such work provided
it had sufficient funds placed at its disposal for the
purpose. On the other hand, there is much to be
said for the State undertaking such a survey. It
seems inevitable that ultimately some Government
department will have to be responsible, in greater
or less degree, for the co-ordination of all forms
of assistance, more particularly for supplying
information and guidance. Whether some new
department to be formed, such as the proposed
Ministry of Health, would be the proper body,
remains to be seen, but in the meantime there is
the Local Government Board, and it is very much
to be hoped that the Board, either by means of a
departmental commission, or by encouraging and
possibly assisting a voluntary organisation such as
the one named above, will see that a survey is
made. After such a survey, and after the infor-
mation thus obtained has been tabulated and made
available, some form of co-ordination would be
seen to be inevitable. Steps would have to be
taken to bring backward districts into line, and
better methods and more system introduced into
most other districts. It would, of course, be a
gradual process, and it is important that the prin-
ciple of voluntaryism should be maintained. For
this reason it is probable that a Government

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK 31

department working in co-operation with a central
representative body of voluntary workers would
be likely to obtain the greatest measure of success.
If the State moves in this matter, as I sincerely
trust it will, it will have to deal in one way or
another with the numerous voluntary bodies, there-
fore it would be advisable that voluntary workers
with knowledge and wide experience should be
associated with the inquiry and with the subse-
quent central department. The establishment of
the Local Representative Committees has paved
the way for the linking up of all voluntary effort
and its relationship to a central body, but the scope
should be very much enlarged. Each locality should
have its own grouping arrangement, ranging 'from
statutory committees and Poor Law authorities
to the smallest group of persons whose aim is
the public welfare, whatever may be the way by
which they seek to attain it. Such co-ordination,
wisely established and carried out, would add
immensely to the value of voluntary effort and
provide greater opportunities for personal service.

Field of
Work.

Awaiting such an inquiry, and consequent
co-ordination, as I have suggested, the voluntary
worker must usually seek his own openings, but
I would point out the undesirability of plunging
into new schemes without considering the older
and tried methods first. At the present time most
voluntary workers want to do something which
may be regarded as war work, but, rightly under-
stood, it is all the same work. At the present
time there is no better opening for the volunteer,
wishing to do social work, than what is known as

32 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

'" after-care." Most voluntary workers are not
adapted for monotonous work. In " after-care "
there is infinite variety : no two cases are alike,
and, approached in the right spirit, every case
may be of absorbing interest. Most " after-care "
work is linked up with local administration, and is
particularly adapted to those who cannot give a
great deal of time and have not had much experi-
ence and training. Another very large fielcC and
one of urgent need, is work amongst young people
in the adolescent period : boys' and youths' clubs,
girls' and mixed clubs, and women patrols. Still
another sphere, in which there is rapid develop-
ment and a great opening for voluntary effort, is
child welfare, beginning with babies' welcomes,
and following on to play centres, boy scouts and
girl guides, and the care of crippled children.
All this, and much more, is waiting for the willing
worker, and is suitable for those who have no
special training, or those who will get their training
.along with their work, and can give part only of
their time.

Direction of
Voluntary Workers.

This brings us to the question of the possibility
of organising voluntary work in the sense of finding
and allocating workers. The attempt has been
made in various directions, and one or two societies
have been formed with this object. One of them
had a fair measure of success in arousing an interest
in social work among the very limited section of the
community to which it appealed. Some societies
have wished to be a kind of " clearing house " for
all charitable work and workers. I think the
Charity Organisation Society in London and some

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK 33

Guilds of Help in the country have done something
in this direction, but it is very largely an unrealised
ideal. I am not sure that it will ever be realised,
except partially. The volunteer is more frequently
caught by an appeal to do a particular piece of
work than by a general appeal to do something.
Here and there, no doubt, some people will have
a vague desire to work without knowing what
there is to be done, and it is very desirable that
these people should have direction, and some con-
sultative body would be useful to them. Perhaps,
if we get a national department co-ordinating
social work, we may find a place for this kind of
function working through local bodies. Frankly,
I am afraid of too much organisation of such a
volatile thing as the impulse to voluntary effort in
its early stages. If the volunteer gets the impres-
sion that he is going to be a cog in a machine, he
will not offer himself; on the other hand, we are
so variously constituted that some of us like explicit
directions as to what we have to do.
i

A Social
Ideal.

It is clearly evident that the construction, or
re-construction, of national life which is now going
on, makes increasing demands upon voluntary
effort, and we are beginning to expect that these
demands will be met. Are we arriving at the
time when it will be an ideal for every member of
the community to have two occupations, viz., (i)
professional or paid work and (2) voluntary or
unpaid ? Shall we ask of a man what his profession
or occupation is, and ask, as a matter of course,
what is his voluntary work ? Shall we be very
much surprised if we hear that, besides his busi-

34 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

ness, he does nothing but play golf? We have
very nearly arrived at that stage during the War.
After the War there may be a reaction for a time,
but not entirely, because even before the War
such diverse bodies as the Universities and Public
Schools on the one hand and societies of working
men on the other were sending out men and
women in increasing numbers who desired to
work for the welfare of the community in addition
to earning a living. I see the day coming when
this ideal will be general and will be one of the
ways of solving our many problems.

Influence of
Education.

This brings me to the consideration of the place
of education as it affects voluntary work. What-
ever problem we attempt to solve, we are always
confronted with the difficulty of the untrained
mind. If we are trying to formulate a general
policy affecting the whole community, we must
beware of class ideals. If, for instance, we intend
to rely to some extent, in local administration,
upon voluntary effort, we must draw our workers
from all classes of the community, or very nearly
so, otherwise we shall not have the full confidence
of all kinds of people ; we shall be liable to mis-
understand the problem, and we shall very likely
fall short of workers. Therefore here again we
see the need for more regard to education as a
prime necessity of the State. For it is very
difficult to get efficiency in any of the spheres I
have named without the trained intelligence which
education produces. But I would go further and
say that with the progress of education, and espe-
cially as we get a better understanding of what

IN CIVIC LIFE AND SOCIAL WORK 35

education is, we shall get a greater desire, more
widely spread, to help in promoting the welfare of
the community — a more intelligent participation
in public affairs. This is a commonplace, but it
has an important bearing upon the position which
the voluntary worker will fill, and the extent to
which he can be relied upon.

Objection to Voluntary
Work Answered.

There are many aspects of voluntary work
which I have not touched, and must leave to the
enquiry and consideration of those who have
become interested in the subject; but there is one
objection to voluntary social work frequently
raised which is too important to be altogether
ignored. Many people say : But should not our
object be to so organise our State that we have
no need for all this voluntary effort directed to
ameliorate the lot of our fellows ? Should we not
be better employed in so re-constituting Society
that each member of the community had his
appointed place and received a full recompense
for his services, so that he could supply his own
needs and meet his own difficulties ? My reply
is twofold : — First, we are not dealing with things
as they should be, but as they are, and we have
to deal with conditions as we find them ; but,
in the meantime, we cannot leave the poor to
starve, the consumptive to die, the neglected
uncared for, and the uneducated in ignorance.
We must have our Guilds of Help, our After-
care Committees, our War Pensions Committees,
our Children's Care Committees, our Boy Scouts
and Girl Guides, and many another society.
Fight the battle, but do not leave the wounded

36 THE PLACE OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKER

on the field to die. Besides, out of these
helpers of the weak and the fallen we shall get
our best reformers — those who know the weak
places and the failures in our civilization. When
a man becomes engaged in social work it is not long
before he is calling out for some alteration in the
body politic. He may still repeat his party shib-
boleths, but he gets things done to meet the social
needs of the people he knows. It is politicians
who are not engaged in social work — the theorizers
and those who never come in contact with neces-
sity, who block the way.

My second answer is, that the evidence, so far as
we have gone, shows that the more social legislation
we obtain ; the more we progress and develop on
the side of communal interests, as distinct from
solely relying upon individualism ; the more the
voluntary worker seems to be required. An
increase in what is termed social legislation has
shown that we must have voluntary effort to
complete and make effective the action of the
State. I am not saying whether this increase in
social legislation and communal effort is right or
wrong, but I do say that the marked tendency of
the last ten or twenty years, so far as we have
gone in communal action, has been to increase
the demand for voluntary effort, and has opened
out all kinds of new spheres for that effort.

Lastly, are we to say that this desire to help,
this offer of personal service, this feeling of kinship
—at the bottom that is what it is, for we are
members one of another, and we are finding it
out more and more — are we to say that by some
process of reform, some giant stride of develop-
ment, this desire and this love are to be eliminated?
God forbid ! Shall we not rather say that along
this path we shall enter into the Kingdom ?

BOOK

At*4 »l^m " " ecn FOK r«--~ — uc p&r*^1-' '
OVERDUE.

Caylord Bros.

Makers

Syracuse, N Y.
PAT. JAN. 21.1908

//

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